FRENCH military chiefs are to take command of British troops, including the elite SAS, in an unprecedented defence pact to be unveiled today.

Troops from both sides of the English Channel are to serve side by side in a “combined joint expeditionary force” from next year.

Under the cost-cutting initiative set to provoke fury among veterans and supporters of the Armed Forces, Britain and France will also share aircraft carriers, transport planes and nuclear secrets.

And in a further move that raises serious concerns about Britain’s military independence, the French Government effectively will get a power of veto over any future expedition to defend the Falkland Islands.

David Cameron is to agree the hugely controversial deal with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in an Anglo-French summit at Lancaster House in London today.

But last night critics branded the plan a betrayal of British military tradition going back centuries to the battles of Waterloo, Trafalgar, Agincourt and Crecy.

Commander
John Muxworthy, of the UK National Defence Association, said: “The
Government is trying to run the Armed Forces on the cheap. That is no
way to run a country’s defence. In World War Two we were supposed to be
standing side by side with the French and then look what happened.”

Tory
MP Patrick Mercer said: “I can’t help but remember that during the
Falklands War certain French arms manufacturers were less than helpful
in our efforts to retake the islands.”

Moves to
share resources with France were signalled in the coalition Government’s
Strategic Defence and Security Review last month. But Whitehall sources
last night indicated that co-operation will go far further than
previously expected.

Measures include a pool of armed forces that will train together and could be deployed in conflict zones.

Personnel
from the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines will be involved and
Whitehall sources confirmed that the Special Air Service and Special
Boat Service are likely to feature. Training will begin next year.

The
two nations will have to put a single commander from one country in
command, meaning British troops getting orders from French generals.

The
British and French navies are to “co-ordinate” use of their aircraft
carriers. But the decision to scrap the Ark Royal, combined with
frequent maintenance work on the Charles de Gaulle, mean that the two
countries will effectively have just one carrier between them. It means
that if the Falkland Islands are threatened when Britain does not have
an aircraft carrier available, the French Government will have the
ultimate decision about whether to launch a task force.

There
will also be more co-operation on nuclear weapons with French
scientists based at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in
Berkshire and British scientists at a nuclear research facility in
France.

Britain will also share military
aircraft including the A400M transport plane. Another joint approach
involves countering terrorism and cyber threats. Defence chiefs insist
the agreement represents “a new phase of practical co-operation” rather
than a surrender of sovereignty.

The initiative is designed to max­imise defence capabilities by pooling equipment and achieve far greater “value for money”.

In
the Commons yesterday Mr Cameron defended his decision for greater
co-operation. “I don’t seriously believe this link up with the French is
going to lead to European armies,” he said.

The
head of the UK’s Armed Forces welcomed the move. Chief of the Defence
Staff General Sir David Richards said: “We’ve been working very closely
with the French ever since the First World War, but particularly in
Nato.

“We lost some of that in the 1990s and
the last 10 years or so, so we are almost going back to the very close
co-operation we had in the Cold War.”